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REUNION 



CLASS OF 1837 



BOWDOIN COLLEGE 



JUNE 22, 1887. 









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REUNION 



CLASS OF 1837 



BOWDOIN COLLEGE 



JUNE 22, 1887. 



PREFACE. 






By way of apology for the delay of the issue of the %yithm nieniorial 
record, it ought to be said, the difficulty of preparation of a more extended 
and semi-biographical sketch of the membership of the class of 1837, at- 
tempted as suggested by some, and the intervention of deep, dark death 
sorrows, in the family of the author, have essentially contributed thereto; 
and he trusts will be received by his classmates, as an excuse therefor. 

Further, we are largely indebted to the zeal and co-operation of Rev. 
J. O. FiSKE, of Bath, and the beneficent consideration of Hon. J, L. Cutler, 
of Quitman, Ga., for the publication made, and to Dr. Fordyce Barker, 
of the city of New York, for the elegant festivities of the occasion. To 
each, the thanks of the class are due, for efficient contributions to its 
success. 

RuFus K. Sewall. 



INTTRODUCTriON. 



" Ah, me ! the fifty years since last we met 
Seem to me fifty folios bound and set 
By Time — the great transcriber — on his shelves, 
Wherein are written the histories of ourselves." 

— Longfellow^ lieunion Class 1825. 

We open with our old teacher's closing address to his classmates at 
the end of their fiftieth year of graduation. 

Our class was one of the largest entered at Bowdoin, if not the 
largest which had graduated up to that time, and among the last of the 
administration of the venerable President Allen. Surviving members in 
the neighborhood of Brunswick, desirous of a reunion on the fiftieth anni- 
versary of our graduation, arranged therefor at Brunswick, Commence- 
ment of 1887, and by the partiality of his classmates, Rufus King Sew^all 
of W^iscasset, acted as secretary in organizing the remiion. 

The Rev. Dr. John O. Fiske of Bath, Maine, earnestly and ably sec- 
onded the movement. 

Thereupon the following circular was sent to the address of all 
known survivors : 

WisCASSET, January 1, 1887. 

I have been requested to act in behalf of a committee of the class of 1837, 
Bowdoin, to arrange a semi-centennial reunion of the survivors, at Brunswick, 
June 22, 1887. 

It is proposed to have a gathering of these survivors at the Tontine in the 
afternoon and evening, there to eat bread together ; rehearse our post-graduate 
life experiences ; renew our fraternal greetings ; enjoy the reminiscences of college 
life ; share our joys and sorrows ; gather ixp what information we can of the de- 
parted and absent ones ; and take probably our earthly farewell of Alma Mater 
and of each other. 

We solicit your presence and aid, or greetings, with a brief resume of your 
personal history and family. 

Affectionately and fraternally yoiirs, 

RuFus K. Sewall, Secretary. 



REUKIOIsT 



There gathered at the Tontine Hotel, Brunswick, in an upper room 
as follows : 

FoRDYCE Barker, M. D., N. Y. City. 

Rev. Ammi Rtjhama Bradbury, Pro\dclence, R. I. 

John Lewis Cutler, Esq., Quitman, Ga. 

Rev. John Orr Fiske, D. D,, Bath, Me. 

Rev. George Warren Fiem), D. D. Bangor, Me. 

Joseph Hobson, Esq., Saco, Me. 
Thomas Fitch Perley, M. D., Brigade Surgeon, U. S. A. 

Rev. William Wilberforce Rand, D. D., N. Y. City. 

RuFus King Sewall, Esq., Wiseasset, Me. 

Rev. John C. Stockbridge, D. D., Providence, R. I. 

Hon. George Foster Talbot, Esq., Portland, Me. 

George Woods, LL. D., Pittsburg, Pa. 



DPENING- BY R, K, SEWilLL; ESQ, 

Brothers : — By the partiality of some of our fellows, by correspondence and 
otherwise, I was requested to aid in bringing about a semi-centennial reunion of 
the survivors of our class. To the best of my ability, under great disadvantages, 
I have endeavored to discharge the duties of the trust, the result of which is your 
presence here at this hour. 

To perfect the purposes of this gathering and its occasion, it is proper we 
shoidd organize by choosing some one to preside, and some one to act as scribe. 
Will you please nominate a presiding officer. 

Dr. Fordyce Barker was chosen to preside over the reunion, and 
R. K. Sewall Esq., of Wiseasset, to act as scribe. 

Social exercises were opened with prayer. Each one present was 
called on for a summary of his life experiences since graduation, and for 
information of the absent ones. It was an intensely interesting episode. 
The leaves of individual history so turned we leave to the privacy of per- 
sonal recollection. Necrology of the class was presented. 



ANSWBRS. 



Survivors of the class responded as follows : 

Pittsburg, May 2, 1887. 
R. K. Sewall, Esq., 

My Dear Classmate: 

Your circular announcing the proposed meeting of the class of 1837 
was received. I propose to be there. As a last meeting- — as one recalling the loved 
ones of our number gone — as recalling the college days and the successes and 
failures, joys and sorrows of fifty years, it will be a meeting of great, and in many 
respects, of mournfxd interest. 

Will you oblige me by starring such of the unstarred names of the enclosed 
sheet as have passed over the river. 

Hoping to see you in June, I am 

Most truly yours, 

GEORaE Woods. 

Plantation, Brooks Co., Ga., April 20, 1887. 
My Dear '' Bufus ET;" 

( It was thus we designated you nearly fifty years ago, — it seems but yes- 
terday, — from the other members of the distinguished Sewall family.) 

It is kind of you to act as secretary for the class in arranging for a reunion at 
the coming Comm3nc3m3nt. I hope also, you will deem it a compliment to have 
been selected as such ; for while the class of '37 is unanimously acknowledged 
( among its members ) to have been the most intelligent body that had graduated 
at the college, there is no one among them who would have the hardihood to deny, 
that individually, they were the most self-sacrificing of men. But intelligence 
and self-sacrifice must be supplemented by a fondness for historical and genealogi- 
cal facts, in the constitution of a class secretary ; and so it should be plain to one 
less favored than those who were of the famous class, that the selection is an 
honor to the recipient. 

And what a goodly array of saints the early catalogue of the class contains, 
does it not? The list commences with St. John and closes with St. George. 
Alas ! that many are not numbered among the living ; and again, Alas ! that 
saints are so rarely canonized in their life-time. 

But, my dear boy, I did not sit down to write thus ; but you will aUow that a 
septuagenarian ( even of the class of '37) should be privileged to stray from the 
subject. Indeed, there are those who assert that the elder is the most interesting 
when he wanders from the text. Treating then, what has been written as "sur- 
plusage," as the lawyers say, this is to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 
5th inst., to thank you for acting as secretary, etc., and to say that I expect to be 
present at th3 cla35 reunion and hope to meet all the surviving members at the 
gathering. 

Very gratefully and truly, 

J. li. Cutler. 



6 

New York, 24, East 38tli Street. 
March 29, 1887. 
My Bear Old Classmate: 

I was delighted to receive your letter, and shall be present at the reunion 
of the Bowdoin class of 1837, on the 22d of June next, unless prevented by some 
unforeseen event which will make it absolutely impossible. I shall be greatly in- 
debted if you will let me know how many of our class are still living, and how 
many you think it may be hoped will be at the meeting. I have a special motive 
for making the request, and shall be glad to hear soon from you. 

I had a very pleasant letter from. John Stockbridge, who was in our class a 
year or two, and would like to be at the meeting, and I should like to have him 
invited. I think Clark lives in San Francisco ; he is a prosperous man, I hear, and 
I enjoyed having him dine with me a year or two ago. I often see Frank Uphami 
who is the only classmate I know in this city. Formerly, I met Rand occasionally, 
but I have not seen him for several years. I hope John Cutler ^vill surely be with 
us, and many others whomi I have not heard of for a long time. 

I will do my best to make our gathering a joyful one. 

Ever faithfidly youjs, 

FoRDYCE Barker. 



KoHALA, Hawah, H. I., March 22, 1887. 



R. K. Sewaul, Esq. 
Dear Brother: 



Your favor of Feb. 14th came to hand a few days since. I thank the 
committee for the kind invitation to attend the class jubilee in the coming June. 
It would, of course, afford me great pleasiu-e to look once more upon the faces of 
the few of those who continue to the present time. But this privilege is denied 
me. A wearing cough, contracted two years or so since, has brought me to a con- 
dition for which home is the only suitable place — and here I abide, my work 
mainly done, till called to the Father's house. 

You ask me to write up my "life experiences." My life has been an un- 
eventful one ; or rather its events would scarcely interest those not immediately 
concerned therein. 

We came to these Islands in May, 1841, after a six months' passage from 
Boston, and in this field, on the northern end of Hawaii, my Kfe has been spent. 
It has been a life of perfect physical health and of steady, uninterrupted work, — 
or had been till about two years since. At that time I resigned the pastorate of 
this church, and committed the duties thereof to a Hawaiian successor. 

During the forty-four years of my pastorate, several urgent calls came to me, 
to enter upon other, service, both secular and ecclesiastical, in other parts of the 
Islands, but two thoughts steadily held me, viz : That I must persistently hold to 
the purpose for which I came hither ; and second, that if by any possibility I 
might be able, under God, to effect anything of good for this people, it could be 
best done by a steady drill in one place. Hence, my continuance here. 

My mfe left me for her final home in 1881, my faithful companion, abundant 
in labor for our people and our faixiily for forty years. She had borne me ten 
children, of whom two are not. Two are married and settled in the Islands with 



families of ten children, united. Two are in the Fatherland, and one, a practicing 
physician, settled in this district. The others are with me, and will care for me 
til the time of my departure. 

Very great changes I have lived to see on all sides of us — changes that will 
ultimately work for good to this feehle remnant of a perishing race ; and far 
beyond that, for good to the future race to be here crystalized out of these heter- 
ogeneous nationahties now gathering on the Islands. 

Jnst now we are under a cloud. The government is practically an absohite 
despotism. The outcome of it all as to time and condition is not easily predicted ; 
but God reigns, and our only trust is in Him. 

In spirit, dear Brother, I shall hope to be with you in your meeting, and pray 
for you each and all the blessing that maketh rich in every thing good and adds 
no sorrow therewith. 

Most cordially, 

Your classmate, 

E. Bond. 



Providence, R. I., April 7, 1887. 

Brother Sewall : 

Your favor came direct. The Lord willing, I expect to be at the Com- 
mencement in June and will try and report myself at the class union. 

Dr. Butler, a Baptist clergyman, lives, I suppose, in Pawtucket, R. I. He 
did the last I knew. 

I am very much attached to Latin and Greek. Soon after graduation I bought 
a Latin and Greek New Testainent which every year I have read through once or 
twice. Seeing in our Brown University library, works on the hymns, songs or 
lyric poam? of the Christian Fathers, I have translated several of them. 

Mrs. B. joins me in sending our highest esteem for yourself. 

Yours truly, 

A. R. Bkadbury. 



New York, January 11, 1887. 
Dear Brother Sewall: 

Of course I shall try to attend the semi-centennial class meeting, and it 
now seems probable that I may be able to do so ; but at this distance of time from 
the day one can only promise conditionally. As tha 29th of June draws nearer, 
and definite arrangements have to be made, I wiU let you know what the proba- 
bility is. 

Woods expects to be there, I learn, and Cleaveland wants to, but fears he may 
not be able. Bond says that Woodman has invited him to make his home with 
him that week, and I wish we could persuade him to come. 

Yours truly, 

W. W. Rand. 



8 

Portland, January 12, 1887. 

Brother Sewall : 

I most cordially return your kind greetings and good wishes. As to the 
proposed class meeting in June, I accede to it, and if I live shall doubtless be there 
to share its labors, satisfactions, and expenses. But it will be a grand occasion 
when we show our gray heads to each other and try to recognize our boyish looks 
iu the disguises which age has thrown over us — aU but you, who seem as young as 
ever. But now, do not make the occasion for me one of terror and haunting ap- 
prehension — it is bad enough anyway, to show our old heads among the golden 
youth that fill our old places— by dooming me to write a stiff, formal poem. 

I have not ever quite disused the early habit of rhyming, and have dribbled 
some snatches of coarse song among my fugitive and occasional writings, and if 
the mood should favor, and anything come easily to my mind, I will whip some- 
thing out of my pocket at the time. 

But don't bind me to the service, or expect it ; and above all, let any other 
fellow, who can, or thinks he can, or wants to write verses, bring along as many as 
he pleases and read them, or prose either, — excepting Field's and Fiske's old ser- 
mons. Rand's pungent tracts, your historical and my political papers ; those, you 
know would spoil any dinner. 

May all we old fellows live to then, when we will pipe and grumble the old 
songs as well as asthma, and coughs, and bad teeth will let us. 

Ever yours, 

Geoge F. Talbot. 



New York, June 18, 1887. 
44 West 35th St. 
My Dear Classmate and Friend: 

My heart is with you in all you are so well doing to make the reunion of 
the class of 1837, what it ought to be, as that of a class forever memorable in the 
annals of our alma matter ; — and of whose fame, truly you can say, — "magna quo- 
rum pars fui." 

I write a few words from my heart, which you will please make known to our 
class at that meeting, which I hope and pray may be followed by a meeting happy 
and forever in heaven. 

Sincerely yours, 

Francis W. Upham. 
FoRDYCE Barker, M. D. 



My Very Dear Friend: 

Please make known these words from my heart : — 
To My Classmates of 1837. 
I love them. I always did love them. I love them all ; never more than 
And I pray for them, and theirs^ to the latest generation. 

Francis W. Upham. 
FoRDYCE Barker, M. D. 



9 

Peru, Indiana, April 13, 1887. 
RuFus K. Sew ALL, Esq., 
Dear Sir: 

I received your favor of the oth instant, asking me to meet classmates 
at Brunswick. I shall be most happy to do so, but fear I shall not be able to make 
the meeting. The fates to me have been adverse. Last winter my house burnedi 
entailing a dead loss or $2,000 of $3,000 thereby cutting off an income of $750.00 
par year ; and although I have some left, it is in real estate and not ready money 
and not easily converted into coin. 

My health is good only a touch of gout now and then, showing perhaps that I 
have not suffered for good things. 

Should fortune favor I will make an effort to meet yovi otherwise, I will send my 
greeting. 

Yours truly, 

S. W. Talbot. 

Peru, Indl\na, June 5, 1887. 
RuFus K, Sew all, Esq., 
Dear Sir: 

I write to you to say that circumstances will not permit me to attend 
our semi-centennial Commencement as it would afford me great pleasure to do so if 
I could, but I hope all our classmates who do meet will have a right good time. I 
will say for myself that my health is good excepting a touch of the gout, now and 
then, and that I enjoy life and am about as comfortable as an old bachelor (living in 
a hotel) could expect to be. 

When I left Bowdoin I went South and spent three or four years teaching ; after 
that I returned to Maine and reai law, and was admitted to the Oxford Bar, when, 
after a while, finding the practice uncongenial to my inclinations I laid down my law 
books and went West to engage in Railroad building, which I followed for several 
years with no great success until the fever and ague took me down and nearly car- 
ried me off ; after recovering I again turned my attention to teaching for three or 
four years, when I came to Peru, Ind., and here in one kind of business and then 
another I finally made a stand ; serving the city for several years as Engineer, and 
doing outside jobs, till I have laid by almost all work and am determined to make 
the remainder of my sublunary journey easy and peaceful as possible, which I hope 
may be the fate of all my classmates. 

And now with my kindest regards to jon and yours and all enquiring friends I 
will say good bye for the present. 

Yours truly, 

S. W. Talbot. 

Worcester, Mass., May 31, 1887. 
85 Woodland St. 
Dear Classmate : 

As the time for the proposed semi-centennial reunion of the class of 
1837, is drawing near, and I have no expectation of enjoying the pleasure of being 
present, on account of the distance, and of my having recently visited family friends 
in Maine, I take this method of communicating my hearty greeting to those who 
shall be present. Although my life has now extended over three quarters of a cen- 
tury, and for some tim.3 I have performed little professional work, I have not dis- 



10 

continued literary labor, or other activities. Perhaps I may be able, through the 
blessings of God, to leave something that may have an influence when I am gone» 
as I desire. I have now resided in this city some four years, and in this state about 
ten, after leaving my last charge in New Hampshire, where I was pastor between 
twelve and thirteen years. I have preached only occasionally since. My pastorates 
in Maine covered about twelve years, previous to which I preached and taught, a 
few years in Ohio, after graduating at Andover. I was married to my present wife 
in 1852. We have been blest with three daughters, the two oldest of whom, after 
obtaining a good education, and teaching several years, went into a deehne and 
passed away. The youngest, Sarah L., is now with us. 

Our professors and many of our classmates have already gone the way of all 
the earth, and it cannot be long before we shall all follow. When we graduate 
from earth may it be to a higlier seminary, and to a reunion that shall not be dis- 
solved. The years spent at Brunswick, the classmates with whom I associated, 
and the studies there pursued, will supply some of my most interesting memories 
while life lasts. May the divine blessing be with you all to the end. 

I will close by requesting you to favor me, after your meeting, with the names 
and residence of our surviving classmates, so far as you ascertain them, and some 
account of your meeting, as well as something more concerning yourself and family, 

Very truly yours, 

Mark Gould. 



QuiNCY, III., April 25, 1887. 
K. K. Sewall, Esq., 
My Dear Sir: 

Yours of the 18th instant, in behalf of a committee of the Bowdoin 
class of 1837, addressed to my brother, Charles A. Savage, reached me in due time, 
and I have only in reply to respond that he also has joined the majority. I wish 
he could have been with you for one reunion of his class, before the final emigra- 
tion. The accompanying daily, of this city, will give you an outline sketch of his 
career. 

I wish you a very happy gathering at Brunswick, the next Commencement, and 
that you all may so enjoy it that it shall not be the last. The '33s expect to have 
one meeting more. ' 

Very truly yours, 

William T. Savage. 
(Bowdoin 1833). 

Providence, R. I., March 23, 1887. 
My Bear Old Classmate Sewall : 

I have been wondering for some time whether the class of 1837, of 
Bowdoin, would celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its graduation at the Com- 
mencement in June. Last Friday I was in New York, and saw Rand, who said to 
me that some steps had already been taken, looking to the proposed celebration. 
Barker, also, has expressed the wish that there might be a meeting of our classmates 
in June — Woods and Bradbury have intimated to me their intention to be present 
at the gathering. Although I did not complete the college course at Bowdoin, T 
have always felt a peculiar regard for the collegiate associates of my early life, and 



11 

if the plan proposed is carried out, I shall try to be with you at the time mention- 
ed, June 22, '87. Our Commencement at Brown University, of the Corporation of 
which I am a member — will occur June 15, so that I can get away without interfer- 
ing' with any engagement in connection with our University. 

I can hardly guess how many members of the class will be at the proposed 
meeting. Many of them, I know, have gone from the land of the living, but I have 
the impression that some fifteen, perhaps more, are alive. I fancy we shall have to 
look long and closely to each other to recognize in the venerable gentlemen who will 
assemble at the Tontine on the afternoon of the 22nd of June, the boys who, a half 
century and more ago, were tramping across the college campus in Brunswick. 
How freshly come to my memory the experiences and the companions of those young 
days. I must have been one of the youngest members of the class, only 15 years 
old when I entered college, the other extreme was Warren "pater omnium." But 
I wUl not indulge in remeniscences. These will be more properly in order when we 
meet. 

I enclose the accompanying which will let you know about a literary work, in 
which I have been engaged, for some time, and which, as you will see, has found its 
way into a large number of libraries in the United States. I think you have what 
bears the name of the "Social Library." If they wish for a copy my address is 
given in the circular. 

If I hear nothing to the contrary, I will take it for granted that the class meet- 
ing will take place and wiU govern myself accordingly. 

Truly yours, 

J. C. Stockbkedge. 



Harbor Creek, Erie Co., Pa., May 23, 1887. 

Dear Bowdoin Classmates o/1837; 

It would give me great pleasure to meet with you, at the semi-centen- 
nial in June, but, while my general health is good, some little ailments forbid my 
being so far away from hom^e, for so long a time. 

I am the more desirous of being with you, as I have not visited "Bowdoin" 
since graduating, and, unless I come now, I will never see the old college again ; 
besides, I have met with only a very few of our classmates since we parted fifty 
years ago, and if present at the '"''reunion,^^ I shotdd probably see most of the class 
who are now living. 

If unable to be present, I am "solicited" to send my "greetings" and "a brief 
resume of my personal history and family." 

My cordial "greetings" you have, and, below, are fragments of my personal 
history and family, partly in sermon-like divisions. 

1. I am thankful for my good health all through my professional life. 

I have not lost a single Sabbath by sickness since I commenced preaching in 
Sept. 1841. Saturday afternoon, July 1st, 1865, I was struck with lightning, and 
did not recover consciousness for a immber of hours ; of course I did not feel able to 
preach the next dav. With this exception, I have not once failed, from disability^ 
to fill ray pulpit for these forty-six years. I attribute my extraordinary health to 
the blessing of God, and mainly, among the secondary causes, to wife's wholesome 
cooking. 

2. I am thankful that God has spared the wife of my youth to be the compan- 
ion of my old age. 



12 

Bear with an old man, if I say, in confidence, to yon — my classmates — all of 
you old men too — that, much as I thought of my wife when we were married, I 
think much more of her now after our united life for forty-three years and eight 
months. 

3. I am thankful to God for our children. 

We have had seven in all, our third child — Mary Rebecca — died at the age of 
two and a half years. Our sixth — John Atwood — ^died at the age of three and a 
half. In one of our little social meetings — the topic being — Causes v/e have 
for thanksgiving — wife said, "I am thankful that I have two little children in 
heaven." 

Our eldest child — George Chamberlain — was book-keeper in a Bank for several 
years ; latterly, he has been an invalid. 

Our second child — Abbie Doane — studied at Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary — 
married Mr. A. N. Elliott, now resides in St. Paul, Minn., and is an active worker 
in the Dayton Avenue Presbyterian church of that city. They have had Jive chil- 
dren. Two sons only survive, Ralph Woodberry and Carroll Cleaveland. 

Our fourth child — Edwards Park — graduated at Western Reserve college and 
Union Theological Seminary, New York city, is an ordained Presbyterian minister, 
at present Professor of Rhetoric and Elocution in Adelbert college, Western Reserve 
University, Cleveland, Ohio. He inarried Miss Hattie Sykes — they have one child 
— Shervill Atwood. 

Our fifth child — Herman Doane, formerly civil engineer — is now in business near 
Cornwall on the Hudson, is an elder of the Presbyterian church in the place of his 
residence. He married Miss Ella Genung ; they have had one child which died in 
infancy. 

Our youngest child — Robert Moorehead — in some respects the liveliest of all our 
children — is in business with his brother-in-law, at St. Paul ; he is yet unmarried. 

We feel thankful that all our living children have publicly confessed their faith 
in Christ. 

And what more shall I write? What there is had about me I don't want to 
tell you, and if there is anything good, it does not become me to speak of it. 

Allow me the following — which is neither good nor bad. Weighing about two- 
hundred pounds, I am of necessity a little portly — some would say dicjnified in my 
bearing, and when I am dressed my nicest, sometimes, those who don't know me 
think I am somebody. Will you believe that I was taken, in New York city., too, 
for Dr. Howard Crosby---and in St. Paul, last summer for ex-President Hayes, and, 
that it was asked if I was Pkesident Cleveland? It is even so. You see I come also, 
so near being a great man as to be mistaken for one. I am pleased to see, by the 
History of Bowdoin, that many of you — my classmates — have achieved not seeming, 
but real greatness, in the world's esteem. 

After leaving Andover, I spent the greater part of one year in supplying the 
pulpit of the 1st Cong, church, Marblehead, Mass. I have passed the whole of my 
ministry since, in different churches, in the county in which I now reside. I have 
been ''''called''^ to churches elsewhere, but did not see my way clear to accept. 

Last summer I spent my fotir week's vacation in preaching for the Dayton Ave. 
Pres. church, St. Paul, to which my children belong ; there I had the pleasure of 
meeting Hon. Edward Webb — class of 1838 — who is a respected member of the ses- 
sion of that church. 



13 

I still preach tAviee and attend Sunday school, every Sabbath, and perform pas- 
toral labor during the week. Of course, now in my seventj'-second year, I cannot 
expect to be able to perform the stated labors of a pastor much longer. It is with a 
feeling of reHef that I look forward to the approaching end of my labors and cares, 
and to the beginning, I hope, of something better. 

I congratulate you — my classmates — on the honors you have won, on the good 
you have done, and sjanpathize with you in the trials common to us all. 

May you have a pleasant time at the semi-centennial. 

The Lord grant that we may meet an unbroken class in that world, where there 
is no growing old, no separation, no imperfection. 

Yours affectionately, 

G. W. Cleaveland. 

eben:e:ze:r stockbridqe;. 

A CiASSMATE's EElVnNISCENCES. 

The venerable Ebenezer Stockb ridge is still alive, now acknowledging an age of 
80 years and upwards. The ministers in our class seemed to have been blessed 
above the rest of us with long life. The aged Stockbridge betook himself to Tenn- 
essee and was there a teacher and preacher after the Methodist persuasion. He 
lived in Greenville quite near the Hermitage, and, as Gen'l Jackson whom you and 
I in our youth worshipped as a hero and patriot, did not die till 1845, perhaps our 
classmate sometimes visited him, and may have closed his eyes. Women looked 
on our dry old brother Avith loving eyes, who can understand the mystery of their 
deep affections : one of these a New York lady became his wife and the mother of 
two of his children. When she died Ebenezer did not quite loose his courage ; he 
said in his devout way, the Lord's will be done and looked around for another wife. 
This time a planteress, a woman with a plantation and slaves forsooth, saw the good 
man in his sorrow and pitied him, and took him to her plantation and to her bosom. 
How he managed the slave business I do not know, but in a worldly way he pros- 
pered, raised cotton and corn and hogs as you do, and rejoiced in the fruits of the 
labor of his wife's chattels as you never did. When the war came Ebenezer got the 
privileges of a non-combatant, though what combats went on in his domestic hfe be- 
tween his slave-holding wife and himself only the neighbors and church members 
know. Ebenezer did not draw the sword in the cause which he secretly espoused, 
but he braadished the sword of the spirit, and in his evening and morning prayers re- 
membered the North and bespoke the Lord's blessing upon her armies. How 
madame behaved I am not informed or what missiles she threw at the head of her 
worshipping spouse. This kind of opposition, however, did not dismay him, and 
when Grant and Buell and Sherman and Thomas were smiting the rebels hip and 
thigh, Stockbridge was bespeaking the Lord's intervention to help on the good work. 
Once, however, the prayer became dangerous and lifted poor Ebenezer into the at- 
titude of a patriot and a martyr. 

Mrs. Stockbridge had a brother who was a brigadier in the rebel army, and on 
one of *his furloughs he made her a visit. The family prayer could not be omitted. 
Somewhere in it along after the petition that the chosen people of Israel might be 
brought in to the inheritance of grace, came the formula for the divine blessing on 
the armies, that with the sword of the Lord, are endeavoring to restore the autho- 
rity of til 3 government. Whether from the dogged obstinacj^ of his patriotism or his 
willingness to antagonize his wife and all her relations, or because the habitual 
ritual had become a sort of song which sang itself out, the heedless Ebenezer let 
fly his Union prayer into the very teeth of the kneeling brigadier, who gathered 
himself up in a towering passion and left the house. A squad of soldiers appeared 
soon after at the door, and hauled away the poor old minister to jail whence he was 
transferred to Libby prison and did not get released till six months afterwards. 

G. F. T. 



14 
DINNKR. 



In progress of arrangements for the closing services of this reunion 

at the table cle hote of the Tontine, the f ollomng notice to the secretary by 

due course of mail made his classmates the guests of Dr. Barker, who 

thereupon presided at the table, bountifully spread as follows, viz: 

1837— Bowdoin College— 1887. 

Class Dinner. 

June 22, 8 P. M., Tontine Hotel, Brunswick. 

MENU. 

Clams. 

Potages. 

Creme Poullet a la Reine. 

Consomme Italienne. 

Hors Doeures. 

Radis, Saumures, Olives. 

Poisson. 

Saumon Kennebec, Sauce Halaudaise 

Coucumbres, Pommes de terre Bermuda. 

RKIVCA^RKIS 



At the reunion, Dr. Barker proposed, that the members of the class 
present should be his guests at the dinner, which was acceded to with the 
thanks of his classmates. 

The Doctor went farther and invited members of the classes of 1835, 
'36, '57 and '66 to sit and eat bread with the survivors of the class of 1837. 
The post paandial was well sustained, in narratives of incidents of college 
experiences, lead by the generous Doctor in an apt and felicitous opening. 

Suffice it to say, that for four hours — an hour or more devoted to table 
service — brought out any amomit of fun and anecdote of "ye olden time" 
as reported in the Brunswick Telegraph, whose Editor was of the party, 
seasoned by a poetic address, from Talbot, of sweet strains and sentiment, 
highly appreciated. A more genial gathering of college men, has rarely 
been held, under the classic shades of Old Bowdoin. Full details are out 
of place, if it were possible to give them. 

The Doctor mth his good wife, Mrs. Barker, were the recipients of the 
attention and grateful acknowledgments of the members of his class pres- 



15 

ent, who received Avith graceful coiu-tesy, for an hour before the call to 
dinner. 

The following* poem by Hon. George F, Talbot, was read diu'ing 
the exercises. 

AD SODAIvKS. 



I, coming with my IjTe so late, 

AVere I more wise might deprecate 
The recent pitiable fate 

That fell on England's laxu-eate, 
Singing his verses out of season, 
Lacking alike in rhyme and reason. 
Younger than we our poet said, 
Bowing to fate his regal head : 
"Fancy departs no more invent ; 
Contract thy spanning firmament 
To narrow compass of a tent." 
"Economize the failing river. 
But not the less revere the Giver," 
Let age hold back its ebbing veins, 
Nor venture, after ^dgor wanes, 
"Amid the Muses deaf and dumb. 
Amid the athletes halt and nmnb." 
For life's poetic side is youth. 
Age, blest with vision of the truth, 
No longer lured by Fancy's gleams. 
Buys sober wisdom for its dreams. 

II 

Who IS the untimely chronicler that learned 

(Tide-waiter, reading fortunes in the moon) 
As, watching signs, his almanac he turned. 

Our classic jubilee had come so soon ? 
O why not let the year unheeded pass 

Like aU the rest, with good and ill they brought ? 
Wliy muster in their line our broken class. 

To show the ravages that time has wrought ? 
This is the place ; here are the pines and sand ; 

Two venerable structures keep their sites ; 
But gone is every scholar of the band 

That led our halting steps up learning's heights. 
"The old order changeth, giving place to new," 

New men, new manners and new laws we see. 
And yet amid the changes that we view 

Is nothing half so strangely changed as we. 



16 



For would the golden youth, whose lusty legs 
Spurn the tormented football o'er these plains, 

Deem life worth having, low-drained to its dregs. 
The mind's regrets tempering the body's pains ? 

Or think that any worthy recompense 
Could come of wisdom, fi*me or wealth ? 

If tliese prized goods were purchased at expense 
Of youth's ideals and its robust health ? 

Doubtless we seniors in our grey disguises. 

With dentist art beaming our smiles of mirth, 

Seem to these callow scholars life's grand prizes 
To have bought dearly and above their worth. 

To celebrate our victory, not defeat, 

We favorites of fortune here are met, 
Still from the west flashes its heat, 

The sun so early on our comrades set. 

For were there summoned of our forty-three 

Each cleric, lawyer, editor and leech, 
From fields of toil severed by land and sea. 
Still twenty-two called to the O. M. degree 

Might say adsumus in our husky speech. 

We might not know each other in the masks 

That age has stuck upon each youthful head. 
But grasping hands to every one that asks. 

Might say, "Not know m.e ? I am Tom or Ned." 
And surely then some tone, some trick of face, 

Though over-scratched by many v/rinkled line. 
Back in our recognition would replace 

The boyish image of the Auld Lang Syne. 
If not, some joke upon Old Ferox played, 

Some discipline incurred, some censure gained. 
Or how, in guise fantastic all arrayed. 

The summoned students all turned out and trained, 
Told o'er with mirth in all minute detail 

Might be the Shibboleth, and to all declare 
The veteran, whose memories do not fail. 

Is no impostor, and in fact was there. 

Ill 

Can fifty years have sped with griefs and losses. 
Few hard-won crowns and many hard-borne crosses. 
Since from these halls as Bachelors of Arts 
AVe fared, nor left more impress on our hearts ? 
For surely, never to our sanguine youth 
Spread out more blooming, beckoning fields of truth. 
Nor friendship bound our souls in ties more strong 
Than loves we carry with our years along ; 



11 



IT 



While hopes ambitious, that no longer stir 

Our minds, to children's fortunes we transfer. 

And so, although in heart or brain no traces 

We note of the half-century, when our places 

Another generation crowds to ask, 

Gently reminding of our finished task, 

There's naught for us but to these rivals bold 

Yield up our honors, gracefully be old. 

This too, as ours, is Britain's jubilee. 

That summer in the far-ofP past that we 

Frequented last these hallowed classic scenes, 

Wise beyond measure in our later teens, 

A girl just out of nursery and school, 

A realm wide as the earth was called to rule ; 

Now midst a princely progeny she stands, 

While gratulations from far subject lands 

Salute her long and exemplary reign. 

And blameless life, where censure finds no stain. 

How in the span of her career and ours 

Have grown to help mankind the magic powers 

That subtly lurk in water, earth, and air. 

And how has science builded stair on stair 

Her bold ascent, and flashed her searching light 

On peaks where Chaos sat, and ancient Night ; 

And sunk her plummets in the soundless seas, 

And for locked secrets found the opening keys. 

How thoughts have broadened, and the dykes of creed 

Sunk to their pressure, till the waters freed 

Have swept false systems and half-truths away, 

And left old errors to their slow decay. 

How criticism, with its fusing lamp. 

Has tried anew convention's current stamp 

Of greatness and of wisdom in the past. 

And to the dust some cherished idols cast. 

Perhaps in sanguine moods our hope presages 

In the far future more auspicious ages, 

When toil and care shall press with lighter weight. 

And crowning honors, neither scant nor late. 

Shall meet half way great thought and noble deed, 

Nor death await fame's dilatory need ; 

When, disciplined in ampler knowledge, men 

Shall more effectual work to bring again 

The golden age, and make the vision real. 

Alike of Faith and Fancy the ideal. 

Had it been ours to choose from all the past 
The age in which our fortunes should be cast, 
Could we have found of seventy years a span 
So rich in blessings to the race of man ? 
For in our day what righting of great wrongs ! 



18 



What sundering of fetters and of tliong-s ! 

What swords of tyrants have been turned to rust ! 

What old abuses crumbled into dust ! 

Forth from the stage what masked impostures hooted ! 

What seeds of justice in rich uses fruited ! 

And what though we are old, and on our shelf 

No more contrive to minister to self, 

The world is young, and still immortal truth 

Comes forth exultant in its vigorous youth. 

And man is young, and with new-wakened mind 

Begins his heritage of good to find. 

To pull usurpers of his empire down, 

And of his rightful throne to wear the crown. 



IV 



But why draw out these melancholy rhymes, 
Ringing of jangled bells the dismal chimes ? 
Call back too daring Fancy where she climbs 

Steeps rough and high ; 
For still my song blithe pitched to love and beauty, 
Or brave deeds done on fields of public duty, 
Sobering to concio trist de senectute, 

Ends in a sigh. 
As the skilled speaker, laboring his oration, 
Talks on in quest of bursts of approbation 
To cheer the splendor of his peroration, 

And so just wrecks it, 
So we, our lessons said, our tasks ill-ended, 
Our records made too late to be amended, 
Still vainly hope to achieve some action splendid. 

To crown our exit. 
Better sit placid o'er the expiring brands 
Of life's low fire, at which, warming both hands. 
We sit so late, and bide the high commands 

That call us hence. 
Some left us early, when the feast was young. 
Their story unrecited, song not sung ; 
Some lingered till the midnight chimes had rung. 

Of Providence 
We favorites — undowered with wit or worth — 
In shrvmken circle round the glowing hearth 
Still keep alive the ancient jests and mirth. 

could we give 
From the full treasure of our lengthened days 
One-half to buy a franehised people's praise. 
That binds on Andrew's head immortal bays, 

'T were loss to live. 



19 

Yet not at such dear cost our g-eneroiis host, 
With fruitful toil and study still engrossed, 
Keeps in the foremost rank of men his post ; 
While hoth worlds hear 

Yearly new tributes to our Barker's name. 
And raise him higher on the rolls of fame, 
Showering new honors, where we each may claim 
A classmate's share. 

One word allow, at this our late class meeting. 
The full half-century since the last completing. 
We stand and give each other farewell greeting, 
Tears in each eye. 

Tears, love and joy can move them now, not fears. 
Farewell. We go to face the shortening years. 
Buoyed by the faith that all our spirit cheers, 
And one by one to die. 

The programme of a coucludiiig leavetaking was broken up by the 
sudden dispersion of the survivors of the class before a call to that effect 
could be answered, after supper, and by the lingering personalities of the 
promiscuous guests at the table. 

APPKNDIX. 

INDIVIDUAL DISTINCTION. 

John A. Andrew, Governor of Massachusetts from 1861 to 1865. In 
history noted as the great war Governor, in suppressing the war of the 
Rebellion . 

Elias Bond, distinguished as a missionary, to the Sandwich Islands, of 
the American Board. 

Fordyee Barker, noted for his eminence in the medical profession and 
as a professor and practitioner, in the city of New York and Europe. 

John J. Butler, noted in his denomination as a Theological Teacher. 

John Orr Fiske, noted for his long service as an eminent Congrega- 
tional preacher and successful pastorate, W^inter St., Bath, Me. 

George Warren Field, distinguished as a popular and able preacher 
and pastor of one of the leading churches of the city of Bangor, Me. 

Thomas Fitch Perley, distinguished for his service as a surgeon, U. S. 
A. during the Rebellion. 

W^illifim W^ilberforce Rand, honored secretary of Am, Tract Soc, New 
York City. 

Charles Alexander Savage, distinguished for his financial skill and 
success as a banker. 

Hon. L. D. M Sweat a member of Congress. 

Hon. George F. Talbot, U. S. Dis't Atty, for Maine District and for 
his literary taste and skill. 

William W^arren, as agent of American Board of Commissioners for 
Foreign Missions. 

George W^oods, Esq., eminent as a teacher, Chancellor Western Uni- 
versity of Pittsburg, Pa. 

The above members all have received honorable recognition from va- 
rious Literary and Scientific Institutions, in this country and Europe. 



20 

BENEFACTIONS. 

The members following have been recorded donors to the Treasury of 
Bowdoin college, in the sums following, viz : 

FoRDYCE Barker J$200. Elias Bond, $1,600. 

Geo. W. Field, .$3,150. John O. Fiske, $500. 

William W. Kand, $75.00 John R. Shepley, $300. 

William Warren, $150. 
We know of smaller sums given by individuals to agents, not here 
recorded, or appearing on Treasurer's books. 

NECROLOGY. 

The dead line of this class opens with the head of its first division : 
Hon. John Albion Andrew, LL. D., At Windham, Me. Born May 31, 

1818; died October 30, 1867, Boston. 
Nathaniel Bowman, A. M., born at Bath, Me., July 28, 1817; died 1847, 

St. Francisville, La. 
John Reed Coffin, Damariscotta, born Nov. 16, 1817; died at Damaris- 

cotta, October 29, 1861. 
John Ellery Foxcroft Dunn, born at Poland, Me., March 14, 1815; 

died at Waterville, 1854. 
Andrew Dunning, born at Brunswick, July 11, 1815; died Thompson, 

Conn., March 26, 1872. 
Jordan Goodwin Ferguson, born at S. Berwick, Me., Dec. 12, 1816; died 

at Middleton, Conn., Oct. 30, 1857. 
Albert Ruter Hatch, born Greenland, N. H., Oct. 10, 1817; died Ports- 
mouth, March 5, 1882. 
William Hawes, A. M., born Boston, April 2, 1817; died in Boston, 1854. 
Eliphalet Smith Hopkins, born New Portland, Sept. 20, 1812 ; died there 

June 26, 1861. 
George Whitefield Lamb, A. M., LL. B., born May 9, 1818, Brunswick; 

died New Orleans, May 22, 1853. 
Horace Lunt, born Jan. 7, York, Me., 1818; died Sept. 18, 1837. 
Albert Merrill, A. M., born March 10,1812, at Frankfort, Me.; died at 

Portland, Feb. 13, 1876. 
Edward Francis Mitchell, born May 15, Waldoboro, Me. ; died there 

June 4, 1841. 
William Daniel Morrin, A. M., born Edinburg, Dec. 17; died in West 

Indies. 



21 



Thomas Fitch Perley, born Feb. 23, 1816 at Bridgton; died at Naples, 

1889. 
Charles Alexander Savage, born Bangor, Oct. 2G, 1814; died Qnincy, 

111., Feb. 2, 1884. 
John Rutledge Shepley, LL. D., born Jnne 15, 1817 at Saco, Me.; died 

Oct. 11, 1884, St. Louis. 
Samuel Silsbee, born Alfred, April 1817; died Jackson, Me., Nov. 1842. 
William Warren, (Pater omnium) A. M., born at AVaterford, Oct. 21, 

1806; died Gorliam, Jan. 28, 1879. 
George Albert Wheelwright, A. M., born Jan. 3, 1818, Bangor; died 

in Wells, Sept. 8, 1882. 

SURVIVORS. 



Fordyce Barker, M. D., LL, D., 24 East 34th St., New York City. 

Rev. Elias Bond, Kohola, Hawaii, Hawaian Islands. 

Rev. Ammi R. Bradbury, now in North Carolina. Apply to Free Baptist 

Headquarters in Boston for his address. 



Rev. John J. Butler, D. D., 

William Henry Clark, Esq., 

Rev. George W. Cleaveland, 

Hon. John L. Cutler, 

Rev. George W. Field, D. D., 

Rev. John Orr Fiske, D. D., 

Rev. Mark Gould, 

Joseph Hobson, Esq., 

Bryce McL. Patten, Esq., 

Chas. E. Pike, Esq., 

John Q. A. Scammon, Esq., 

RuFus K. Sewall, Esq., 

Rev. Ebenezer Stock bridge, 

Rev. Dr. John C. Stockbridge, 

Hon. L. D. M. Sweat, 

Moses E. Sweat, M, D., Parsonsfield, Me., I suppose. 

Hon. George F. Talbot, 
Isaac W. Talbot, Esq., 
Francis W. Upham, Esq., 
George Woods, LL. D., 



Apply as above. 
San Francisco, Cal. 
Harbor Creek, Erie Co., Penn. 
Quitman, Brooks Co., Ga. 
Bangor, Me. 
Bath, Me. 
Worcester, Mass. 
Saco, Me. 
Chariton, Iowa. 
Boston, Mass. 
Me., as I suppose. 
Wiscasset, Me. 
Greenville, Temi. 
Providence, R. I. 
Portland, Me. 
Lorenzo in Port- 
land can tell. 
Portland, Me. 
Peru, Indiana. 
New York City. 
516 M:;irket St., Pittsburg, Penn. 



Saco, 



BRUNSWICK TELEGRAPH JOB PRESS. 



